St. Meinrad

Feast Day:
Roman Rite Calendar - 01/21

Patron Of:
Hospitality

Also known as
Maynard
Meginrat
Meinrad of Einsiedeln

Memorial
21 January

Profile
May have been a member of the noble Hohenzollern family. Educated, professed as a Benedictine monk, and ordained at the abbey on the island of Reichenau, in Lake Constance in Switzerland. Teacher in Zurich. Around 829 he withdrew to live in prayer as a hermit in the Black Forest. As word of his holiness and wisdom spread, he attracted many visitors and would-be students. In 836 he retreated to a more remote location near Einsiedeln (which means hermitage).

On 21 January 861 he received, fed, sheltered and entertained two rough-looking travelers. They were thieves, and when they found that Meinrad was a holy hermit who owned nothing worth stealing, they were so angry that they beat him to death. Legend says that his body was protected by ravens who attacked and chased away the murderers. Because he was such a holy man, he was considered a martyr, but there is no evidence that he died defending the faith.

In the years following his death, a series of hermits, including Blessed Benno, used his hermitage. In 934 a Benedictine monastery was built there. It survives today, still serving as monastery, retreat center, and pilgrimage site. The statue of the Blessed Virgin in its huge church is thought to have belonged to Meinrad himself.

Born
at Solgen, Swabia (Sülichgau near Wurtemberg)

Died
beaten to death with clubs by robbers on 21 January 861 at Einsiedeln, Switzerland; relics in the abbey church at Einsiedeln

Canonized
Pre-Congregation

Patronage
Einsiedeln, Switzerland
hospitality
Swabia, Germany

Representation
dead monk with ravens pursuing his murderers
dead monk with two ravens near him
monk being beaten to death with clubs by two men
monk eating fish with a widow
monk holding a club and ciborium
monk with a tau staff walking into the wilderness
monk with Saint Benedict
two ravens